Students of Islamic history and politics have long recognized the ‎ importance of religious endowments, or waqfs, in Muslim society. ‎ Similarly, those following the ebb and flow of the Palestinian-Israeli ‎ conflict have long been aware of the central role played by land ‎ and property in the dispute. Now these two issues are drawn ‎ together in Islam and Israel, which focuses on a hitherto neglected ‎ aspect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: the Palestinian Muslim ‎ waqf...

Students of Islamic history and politics have long recognized the ‎ importance of religious endowments, or waqfs, in Muslim society. ‎ Similarly, those following the ebb and flow of the Palestinian-Israeli ‎ conflict have long been aware of the central role played by land ‎ and property in the dispute. Now these two issues are drawn ‎ together in Islam and Israel, which focuses on a hitherto neglected ‎ aspect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: the Palestinian Muslim ‎ waqf system.‎ Waqfs, which included not only great numbers of buildings, both ‎ public and private, but also vast tracts of land, provided a veritable ‎ network of welfare, charitable, and infrastructural services for the ‎ Muslim population, and were administered by large and influential ‎ bureaucracies. This carefully researched study traces the growth ‎ of the waqf administration from Ottoman rule through the present-‎ day Israeli occupation, and shows how its influence grew or waned ‎ as the political circumstances dic. Central to this book is the ‎ struggle between Palestinians and the Israeli government for ‎ control of the endowed land and properties.‎ Islam and Israel is essential reading for scholars of the Palestine ‎ problem. It takes the reader to the very core of the conflict ( the ‎ struggle for land - through the unique perspective of the Muslim ‎ waqf administration. ‎ Michael Dumper received his doctorate from the University of ‎ Exeter in England, and he currently teaches there in the ‎ Department of Politics. He is the author of several articles and ‎ reports on land and property ownership in Palestine, and a recent ‎ book on The Politics of Jerusalem Since 1967, published by ‎ Columbia University Press.‎